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Police identified the victim, who was shot in the leg by the armed gang dressed in all black and whisked away in a speedboat, as 26-year-old Elliot Onil Eastman from Vermont, Daily Mail reports. Although police did not provide any further background information on Eastman, he is believed to be a famous YouTuber from the United States with the same name, whose social media shows he moved to Sibuco, Zamboanga del Norte to marry a local Muslim woman this past year.
A bio in a YouTube channel belonging to ElliotBeastman read: "Hello everyone I’m Elliot Eastman, I am 26 years old and I came to the Philippines about a year and half ago where I met the love of my life deep in the mountains of the red zone of the Philippines. Zamboanga del Norte is a recently developed area of the Philippines that was once only accessible by boat. I will be showing you my day to day life as the first and only foreigner to have ever lived here in sibuco for a long period of time. I am from the USA!"
A resident of Sibuco, Abdulmali Hamsiran Jala, told police that four men armed with M16 rifles posed as police as they tried to forcibly take Eastman. When the victim tried to escape, one of them shot him in the leg and dragged him into a speedboat which fled south toward the provinces of Basilan or Sulu, according to police.
Although police were unable to find Eastman and the suspects, they stated that they "want to assure the public, particularly the community of Sibuco, that we are doing everything in our power to secure the safe recovery of the victim." They have reportedly alerted other police and Philippine marine units in the region.
Although the motive for the kidnapping has not been established, it is believed to be for ransom. Crimes such as these have plagued the southern Philippines, home to a largely Muslim population which is the minority in a largely Roman Catholic nation.
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